Trousers.



FREDERICK H. SPRAGUE, 0F ORANGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

TROUSERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 26, 1909.

Application filed. February 13, 1909. Serial No. 477,491.

To all whom it "may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK H. SPRAGUE, a citizen of the United States, residing at- Orange, county of Franklin, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Innprovement in Trousers, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like numerals on the drawing representing like part-s.

This invention relates to trousersand particularly to the waist band thereof and the manner of adjusting the size of it.

The object of the invention is to provide a novel construction by which the waist band of the trousers can be adjusted to different sizes without causing any particular portion of the waist band to be wrinkled or folded.

I will first describe one embodiment of the invention and then point out the novel features thereof in the appended claim.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pair of trousers having my improvements applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a detail view showing the inside of a portion of the waist band with the facing turned up to better show the construction; Fig. 3 is a section on the line ww, Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an enlarged view showing the fastening device for the adjusting tape; Fig. 5 is an enlarged section on the line g y, Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a detail of one of the adjusting tapes.

In the drawings the trousers are designated generally by 3 and they are provided with a stifiening strip or stay piece 4 which is located between the lining or facing 5 and the body of the trousers 3 at the waist band thereof as usual. The portion of the stiffening strip 4 which is situated between the back seam 6 and each side seam 7 is formed with a pocket 8 in which a tape 9 is received, said tape being sewed to the stiffening strip 4 near or adjacent to the back seam, as shown at 10. This pocket may be made in any suitable way but I have herein shown it as formed by making the portion above referred to of the stay piece of double thickness, the two plies being sewed together by two parallel seams 12 to form between them the pocket 8 above specified. The free end of the tape 9 projects beyond the pocket 8 and is passed through an opening 13 formed in the lining 5, as seen in Figs. 1 and 3, and the portion of the tape which is exposed on the inside of the trousers is engaged by a buckle or other fastening device which is secured to the trousers. In the present embodiment of my invention this buckle is shown at 14, and it comprises a frame having the bar 15 provided with prongs and the other two bars 16 and 17 which are separated by the openings 18 and 19.

The tape 9 is passed through the opening 19 and thence through the opening 18, as shown in Fig. 4, and then the end of the tape is doubled on itself to form the loop 20, and the end thereof is looped around the central bar 16 at 25 and is sewed to the lining 5 or to some other part of the trousers by stitches 21, as clearly seen in Figs. 3 and 4. The end of the tape thus serves to hold the buckle 14 in place while the body of the tape co-acts with the buckle to determine the size of the waist band. The only portion of the tape which is exposed is that which forms the loop 20 and a neat and attractive appearance is presented.

When the waist band of the trousers is reduced in size the slack or fullness is distributed all along around the rear of the trousers between the side seams, and as it is very seldom that the size of the waist band is changed more than an inch or two, it is possible to effect this change without making any wrinkles whatever in the trousers.

The pocket 8 may either be formed directly in the stiifening piece 4 or may be formed in separate strips such as shown in Fig. 6 which may be then applied to the stiffening strip.

It will be noted that the side seams 7 extend clear to the top of the waist band and that the buckle and exposed ends of the tape 9 are situated entirely on the inside of the trousers.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is In a pair of trousers, the combination with a strip or piece secured to the inner side of the trousers at each side thereof between the hip seam and the back seam, each strip being provided with a pocket extending the length thereof, of a facing 5 overlying said strips and provided with an opening substantially in line with each hip seam of the trousers, a tape or strap situated within the pocket of each strip and secured thereto at the back end thereof only, said tapes being inserted through the openings in the facing, and buckles which engage the tapes, each tape being passed through the buckle and then bent on itself to form a loop and the extremity of the tape encircling a portion of the buckle and being secured to the facing of the trousers, whereby the tape serves both to secure the buckle to the trousers and. in conjunction with the buckle controls the size of the waist band. 7

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK H. SPRAGUE. Witnesses:

EDWARD C. FOWLER, MOSELEY HALE.

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